The Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) is all set to host the Chennai Open – ATP Challenger 100 between February 12-19 at the SDAT Stadium.
With players from 14 countries participating, the competition is expected to be stiff and of high quality. The direct acceptance list is out and the top seed will be 21-year-old Tsen Cheun Hsin from Taepei, ranked 115 in the world. A three-time Challenger event winner Tsen played a tough five-setter in the first round of the ongoing Australian Open.
He is followed by Peniston Ryan of Great Britain (ranked 149), James Duckworth of Australia (ranked 156), and three-time ATP Challenger winner Luca Nardi of Italy (ranked 162).
Dimitar Kuzmanov of Bulgaria (ranked 182) who has been around for a while, 26-year-old Sebastian Ofner of Austria (ranked 193) who reached the third round at Wimbledon 2022, and Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan are the next probable seeds.
In the last ATP Challenger event in the city held in 2019, Corentin Moutet of France won and went on to reach a career-high ranking of 51 in the subsequent years.
According to the current status, Indian players Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Mukund Sasikumar are in the qualifying draw while Ramkumar Ramanthan is alternate No. 1.
The main draw consists of 32 players – 23 direct acceptances, three wild cards, six qualifiers. Qualifying consists of 24 players with four wild cards.
The prize money for the event is USD 130000 (Rs. 1.06 crore). The winner will receive 100 ATP ranking points and USD 17650 (Rs. 14.47 lakh) and the runner-up 60 ATP points and USD 10380 (Rs. 8.5 lakh). The first-round loser receives USD 1270 (Rs. 1.04 lakh). The qualifiers also receive an incentive of USD 380 (Rs. 31,000/-). The players are to be hosted at The Park.
The Chennai event is the first of a series of ATP Challenger 100 events to be held in India. The next tournaments are to be held at Bengaluru and Pune.
The matches will start from 10am local time (IST) onwards. Entry for spectators is free.
Source: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMioAFodHRwczovL3Nwb3J0c3Rhci50aGVoaW5kdS5jb20vdGVubmlzL2NoZW5uYWktb3Blbi1hdHAtY2hhbGxlbmdlci0xMDAtZXZlbnQtcGxheWVycy1saXN0LXN0YXJ0LWRhdGUtYW5kLXRpbWUtcHJpemUtbW9uZXktdmVudWUtdGlja2V0LXByaWNlcy9hcnRpY2xlNjY0Mzk5MzQuZWNl0gGlAWh0dHBzOi8vc3BvcnRzdGFyLnRoZWhpbmR1LmNvbS90ZW5uaXMvY2hlbm5haS1vcGVuLWF0cC1jaGFsbGVuZ2VyLTEwMC1ldmVudC1wbGF5ZXJzLWxpc3Qtc3RhcnQtZGF0ZS1hbmQtdGltZS1wcml6ZS1tb25leS12ZW51ZS10aWNrZXQtcHJpY2VzL2FydGljbGU2NjQzOTkzNC5lY2UvYW1wLw?oc=5
